[WG.]

Never grown it before but aquired some seed on a smoked garlic swop (thanks, BTW).  

It is Connovers Colossal.  Reckon I can suss out most of what I need to do but I wondered if it would be okay for the first year in a container (so that I can get the ground totally free from perennials).   I have some nice 2 gallon buckets which would give about 10" soil depth.  Wot d'ya fink?

[agapanthus]

Munt's the one to ask WG....he's got acres of the stuff!!!! (lucky *)

[WG.]

Talking of muntjac, he's been awfully quiet these past few days.  Is it rutting season ??

[shaun]

i think hes on the thames fishing.

i'm no expert on it but i would get it into the ground mate i got some from wilkos weeks ago and when i planted it i backfilled the trench with decent topsoil that i riddled 1st.and guess what i have an odd spear hear and there popping up already

[Trillium]

You're talking to the master of temporary pot gardening, WG    Yes, the seed or roots can be temporarily grown in large enough pots for the first year or 2, but I'd recommend you bury the pots in the ground for the winter because the young roots can't live through the hard frosts. Older roots can practically sit above ground and live. When your ground is cleared, add a bit of lime as asparagus prefers it slightly sweeter than others, and sand, if you can get it, to mound under the crowns to keep them dry. I buy bags of playground sand for these purposes as there's no sand anywhere in my area.

As for Munty, I believe he's away on the weekend with the 'gf' as he put it.  

[WG.]

Thanks Trillium, I have 11 litre pots which are about 10" x 10" x 10" (notice how comfortable I am with the metric system!).

Good tip regarding winter.

[Trillium]

I'm suitably impressed with your metrics, WG    
And those 10x10's will do nicely for the first 2 yrs, but wouldn't leave them much longer as the roots will soon spread out.
As for buying them for winter, I have about 40 or more buckets of things temporarily housed in the veg garden for planting out, eventually, and all live through it. Some of the poor wee deevils have been in pots for the last 3 years waiting for their own spots  

[yanfoex]

Just planted some wild asparagus from Seeds of Italy. Went for a raised bed. Incorporated lots of mushroom compost and covered the crowns with B&Q screened and sterilised top soil. Wouldn't normally advertise them (B&Q) but the soil is lovely and sharp, which wild asparagus should like and the fact that it's sterilised should help keep the weeds down. The crowns themselves felt a bit on the dry side (from being in the post) so fingers crossed!